A sports club website should put joining information and this week’s training and fixtures first, keep one source of truth for schedules, explain membership fees and sign-up on one clear page, and stay simple enough for the next volunteer to maintain. It serves two very different audiences at once. New people want to know whether they can join, where and when training happens, what it costs and whether beginners are welcome. Existing members want this week’s fixtures, a changed training time, the kit order form or the date of the annual meeting. A good club site makes both groups find their answer in a couple of taps.
This guide covers the pages, homepage sections and content for amateur sports clubs, youth clubs, running and cycling groups, and similar community organizations. The same structure suits hobby societies and volunteer groups with regular meetings. It assumes a site built on WordPress with a page builder, maintained by volunteers. If your club is also a registered charity that takes donations, our nonprofit and charity website guide covers donate flows and transparency pages.
Key takeaways
- Put “join” and “this week” information first. Those are the two most common reasons people visit.
- One source of truth for schedules. Update fixtures and training times in one place and show them wherever needed.
- Membership details belong on one clear page with fees, what is included and how to sign up.
- Make it maintainable: reusable templates, few plugins, and simple instructions for the next volunteer.
- Use real photos from your own club, with consent.
Recommended page structure
Pages for a typical club:
- Home
- Join us (new members start here)
- Teams or groups (one page per team, age group or level if they differ)
- Training times and venues
- Fixtures, results or events calendar
- Membership and fees
- News
- Gallery
- Volunteers and committee
- Policies: safeguarding, code of conduct, privacy, constitution if you publish it
- Sponsors or supporters, if you have them
- Contact
Homepage sections, in order:
- Header with club name, crest or logo, and a “Join us” button
- Hero: what the club is and who it is for, with a photo of your own members
- Next up: the next few fixtures, events or sessions, with date, time and place
- Join us block: who can join, how to try a session, a link to the membership page
- Teams or groups: cards linking to each team page
- Latest news: two or three recent posts
- Training times summary with a link to the full timetable
- Volunteer call: how people can help
- Supporters, if any
- Footer with venue address, contact email, social links and policy links
| Page or section | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Join us | Gives newcomers one clear route from interest to first session |
| Next up | Answers “what is happening this week?” for members and parents |
| Team pages | Collects coach contacts, training times and fixtures for one group |
| Training and venues | Removes guesswork about where and when to turn up |
| Membership and fees | States costs and what they cover, with a sign-up link |
| Policies | Shows parents and members how the club is run and how to raise concerns |
| Volunteers | Recruits help and shows who runs the club |
The “Join us” page
This page converts curiosity into a first visit. Cover:
- Who can join: ages, levels, whether beginners are welcome.
- How to start: a free taster session, a trial month, or simply turning up. Say exactly what to do.
- What to bring: clothing, footwear, equipment, water. Say what the club can lend.
- Where and when: venue with a map link, parking and transit notes, the session to attend first.
- Cost: a summary, linking to the full membership page.
- Who to contact with a question, and how quickly they usually reply.
A short “your first session” section, describing what will happen when someone arrives, helps nervous newcomers more than any slogan.
Schedules, fixtures and events
Schedules are the most visited and most often wrong part of a club site. Reduce the risk:
- Keep one source of truth. Use an events plugin or a shared calendar embedded on the site, and show it on the homepage, team pages and fixtures page from the same data. Avoid typing fixtures into several pages by hand.
- Show the essentials in each entry: date, start time, venue, team, home or away, and meeting time if it differs.
- Mark changes clearly: cancelled, postponed, moved. Do not just delete the entry; people may already have it in their diary.
- Past results can go in a simple table per season, archived rather than deleted.
- Offer a calendar subscription if your tool supports it, so members get updates automatically.
If a league or national body publishes official fixtures, linking to them can be more reliable than copying them. For a one-off tournament or open day with its own program and tickets, our event website guide covers schedules, tickets and venue information.
Membership and fees
A membership page should let someone understand the cost without emailing the treasurer:
- Membership types (adult, junior, family, social, concession) with prices
- What each includes: training, match fees, insurance, kit
- Payment options and timing: annual, monthly, per session
- Any registration with a governing body that is required
- How to join online, or the form to complete
- Refund or pause rules for injury or long absence
Our guide to services and pricing pages explains how to lay out tiers clearly; a simple table usually works for clubs.
Content to prepare before building
- A short description of the club: sport, location, levels, who it is for.
- Team or group details: names, age ranges, coaches, training times, contact routes.
- Venue information: address, map link, parking, changing facilities, accessibility.
- Membership types and fees for the current season.
- Policies: safeguarding, code of conduct, privacy, complaints process.
- Committee list with roles, and a general club email rather than personal addresses where possible.
- Photos taken at your own sessions and events, with consent.
- Fixtures and events in a format you can import or maintain in one place.
- A simple editing guide for future volunteers: how to add a news post, change a training time, update fees.
Images and colors
Club colors are usually decided already. Use them, but with care:
- Use the main club color for the header, buttons and accents, not as a background behind long text.
- Check contrast. Many club colors, such as yellow, light blue or bright red, are hard to read as text on white. Use a darker shade for text and keep the bright color for blocks and borders. Our color palette guide explains how to test this.
- Keep the crest or logo crisp by using a vector or a high-resolution version.
For photos:
- Real sessions, matches and events from your own club are better than any stock image.
- Show a range of members: ages, abilities and roles, not only the first team.
- Follow your consent policy for photos of children. Many clubs avoid naming children in captions and only publish images where parents have agreed.
- Compress gallery images before uploading. Large galleries are often the slowest pages on a club site. See choosing and preparing website images.
Galleries and news
Galleries are popular but can grow without limit. Organize them by season or event, keep a sensible number of photos per album, and remove albums where consent has been withdrawn. News posts work best when short and regular: match reports, results, achievements, notices and volunteer thanks. Date every post, and keep important notices (such as a venue change) on the relevant page as well, not only in news.
Common mistakes
- Last season’s training times still on the site. Put a “last updated” date on the timetable.
- No obvious way for beginners to start. The homepage talks about results but never says “come and try”.
- Fixtures typed into several pages, which drift out of sync.
- Personal phone numbers and emails of volunteers published without thought. Use role addresses where possible.
- Huge uncompressed galleries that make the site slow on phones.
- Policies missing or hard to find, which worries parents.
- A site only one person knows how to edit. When they step down, updates stop.
Accessibility and mobile
Most visitors check training times and fixtures on a phone, often on the way to a session. Make sure tables scroll or stack well on small screens, addresses link to maps, and phone numbers can be tapped. Our accessibility basics guide covers headings, contrast and forms, which also make the site easier for volunteers to keep consistent.
FAQ
Should we use social media instead of a website?
Social channels are good for quick updates, but posts disappear down the feed. A website holds the stable information: how to join, fees, venues, policies and the current schedule. Many clubs use both, linking social posts back to the relevant page.
How often should the site be updated?
The schedule and news as often as things change, and everything else at least at the start of each season. A short start-of-season checklist (fees, teams, coaches, times, venues, committee) keeps the site accurate.
Do we need online payments?
Not necessarily. If your club collects fees another way, explain it clearly. If you do take payments online, make sure the treasurer can see and reconcile them easily.
Bottom line
A club website should help newcomers turn up to their first session and help members find this week’s schedule fast. Keep schedules in one place, make the membership page clear, use your own photos with consent, and build the site so the next volunteer can update it without help.